Men’s Basketball or The Midseason Ranking

Welcome back, sports fans. Once again today we will have two posts. This morning is all about the mid-season mark for men’s basketball. This evening, we will review the Hawaii Bowl. As a reminder, the GCR crew will be on vacation out of country starting Friday but will do our best to keep up with the games. Posts may come at odd times of day or may be late. If we cannot connect to the internet, we will keep up with predictions for the final total after the playoffs are completed.

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This post represents the mid-point of the men’s basketball season. There are no more games until 12/28, so it is a great time to sit back and reflect on what has happened so for. We are working on some analysis for both men’s and women’s at the conference level similar to what we do for football that we are planning to publish prior to the second half restart.

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We are looking forward to the new year and conference games. The first two months of the season are fun, but 102-46 games get boring after a while. There are much too many of those not only from a power conference (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, SEC) playing a weak mid major team, but also mid majors (and sometimes power teams) playing non-D1 teams. These games are important for a couple of reasons. The “better” teams have a chance for their deep benches to get valuable game minutes. The starters of those teams not only build confidence, but also a chance to rest. The “weaker” teams get to challenge themselves – if you have never played ping pong and want to be good, don’t play a beginner philosophy – setting up being a better team during the conference season. It also usually provides some needed funding for the athletic department at the smaller schools. Don’t get us wrong, there are very competitive games between “like” teams during the first two months, but the majority of games are not that entertaining.

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As a reminder, the table below is normalized so that the highest ranked team has a Score of 100. That score can be used to predict the winner (simply compare the Score column for the two teams after adding 4.5 to the home team) as well as a theoretical point spread (subtract those two numbers). FYI, we are working on a similar model for football for next season.

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Thank you for reading and sharing with others. We wish our readers the Happiest of Holidays and please be safe out there, JoJo and G. Now we proudly present the midseason Men’s Top 365 from Michigan to Maine.

RANK	Team	Record	SOS	Score	RPI	Rank
1	Michigan	11-0	40	100.00	0.711	2
2	UCONN	12-1	17	97.53	0.711	1
3	Arizona	12-0	114	94.80	0.681	9
4	Nebraska	12-0	115	94.75	0.682	7
5	BYU	12-1	48	93.38	0.688	5
6	Michigan St	11-1	47	92.37	0.687	6
7	Duke	11-1	54	91.47	0.682	8
8	North Carolina	12-1	75	90.96	0.676	11
9	Vanderbilt	12-0	200	89.17	0.652	18
10	UCF	11-1	132	86.56	0.655	14
11	St Marys	11-2	14	86.47	0.655	16
12	Purdue	11-1	137	86.34	0.654	17
13	SMU	10-2	32	86.27	0.676	10
14	Texas Tech	9-3	1	85.89	0.706	3
15	Kansas	10-3	7	85.13	0.690	4
16	Southern Cal	12-1	195	83.77	0.602	41
17	Gonzaga	12-1	147	82.12	0.638	21
18	Iowa St	12-0	315	81.43	0.611	33
19	Villanova	10-2	97	80.98	0.644	19
20	Alabama	9-3	15	80.70	0.671	12
21	Seton Hall	11-2	134	80.69	0.636	22
22	Utah St	10-1	144	80.43	0.598	46
23	Illinois	9-3	28	79.09	0.659	13
24	Virginia Tech	11-2	175	78.47	0.625	27
25	St Bonaventure	11-2	104	77.95	0.601	44
26	Yale	11-1	205	77.86	0.546	96
27	LSU	11-1	272	77.63	0.605	36
28	Tulsa	12-1	226	77.54	0.547	94
29	California	12-1	293	77.21	0.566	71
30	Stanford	10-2	174	77.08	0.621	29
31	Iowa	10-2	185	76.51	0.617	32
32	Houston	11-1	303	75.78	0.594	49
33	Georgia	11-1	312	75.39	0.592	50
34	Clemson	10-3	101	75.36	0.626	25
35	Oklahoma St	11-1	318	74.99	0.591	53
36	Virginia	11-1	327	74.26	0.586	60
37	New Mexico	10-2	155	74.07	0.580	63
38	Arkansas	9-3	90	74.04	0.626	26
39	Colorado	10-2	236	73.41	0.598	45
40	St Johns	8-4	13	73.30	0.655	15
41	Tennessee	9-3	112	72.98	0.619	30
42	St Louis	11-1	289	72.68	0.588	57
43	UC San Diego	10-2	190	72.31	0.568	69
44	George Mason	11-1	306	71.86	0.547	93
45	UCLA	10-3	181	71.71	0.603	40
46	Kansas St	8-4	24	71.46	0.640	20
47	Nevada	9-3	76	71.19	0.624	28
48	Ohio St	9-3	156	70.82	0.604	37
49	Utah Valley	10-3	130	70.42	0.509	142
50	Auburn	8-4	35	70.16	0.632	23
51	Arizona St	9-4	73	70.06	0.618	31
52	Butler	10-3	211	69.96	0.591	52
53	Florida	8-4	38	69.84	0.628	24
54	Boise St	8-4	12	69.65	0.573	67
55	Indiana	10-3	217	69.65	0.589	54
56	McNeese	10-2	240	69.59	0.514	133
57	Belmont	12-1	340	69.18	0.531	109
58	Miami FL	11-2	329	69.18	0.568	70
59	Seattle	11-2	280	68.50	0.508	143
60	Mid Tenn	7-4	6	68.46	0.536	103
61	Wake Forest	9-4	111	68.12	0.605	35
62	Xavier	9-4	116	68.01	0.604	38
63	Notre Dame	9-4	117	68.00	0.603	39
64	Louisville	10-2	330	67.87	0.564	72
65	Kentucky	9-4	123	67.79	0.602	42
66	Colorado St	9-3	151	67.58	0.562	74
67	New Mexico St	7-3	56	67.30	0.531	110
68	Santa Clara	9-4	62	67.08	0.581	62
69	Kent St	10-2	283	67.06	0.499	160
70	N Iowa	9-3	169	66.77	0.555	81
71	Buffalo	11-2	317	66.55	0.496	163
72	NC St	9-4	148	66.46	0.592	51
73	William & Mary	9-3	182	66.35	0.516	128
74	Wisconsin	8-4	98	66.24	0.602	43
75	Akron	9-3	184	66.10	0.551	86
76	Furman	9-4	85	65.90	0.504	148
77	Baylor	9-2	337	65.59	0.555	83
78	Washington	8-4	119	65.54	0.597	47
79	Liberty	8-3	163	64.96	0.469	205
80	Steph F Austin	9-2	298	64.94	0.483	182
81	Columbia	9-3	210	64.78	0.541	99
82	Arkansas St	9-4	125	64.29	0.560	76
83	Syracuse	9-4	198	64.15	0.577	64
84	Hofstra	9-4	129	64.03	0.524	116
85	Richmond	10-2	335	63.93	0.515	131
86	Bowling Green	10-3	259	63.71	0.463	218
87	FAU	8-5	21	63.43	0.555	84
88	Illinois St	10-3	264	63.42	0.528	113
89	FIU	7-4	44	63.12	0.491	169
90	Texas A&M	9-3	309	62.94	0.551	87
91	Creighton	8-5	79	62.75	0.597	48
92	Murray St	10-3	282	62.63	0.556	79
93	Oklahoma	9-3	320	62.41	0.548	91
94	Wilmington	10-2	345	62.36	0.505	146
95	Wyoming	9-3	253	62.31	0.525	114
96	Tarleton	9-4	171	62.21	0.442	263
97	Grand Canyon	8-4	121	62.20	0.589	55
98	TCU	9-3	325	62.12	0.546	95
99	San Diego St	7-4	58	62.03	0.563	73
100	VCU	9-4	183	61.85	0.575	65
101	Sam Houston	7-4	66	61.84	0.520	123
102	N Colorado	9-3	267	61.74	0.447	257
103	Davidson	8-4	131	61.69	0.549	90
104	Towson	8-5	43	61.56	0.539	102
105	UC Irvine	9-5	91	61.50	0.529	111
106	CA Baptist	10-3	307	61.44	0.547	92
107	Georgetown	9-4	252	61.22	0.555	82
108	Missouri	10-3	348	60.88	0.532	106
109	Hawaii	10-2	355	60.50	0.456	237
110	Utah	8-4	231	60.44	0.560	77
111	Arlington	8-4	165	60.30	0.502	154
112	Penn St	8-4	238	60.00	0.556	80
113	Troy	8-5	74	59.86	0.524	115
114	W Kentucky	7-4	109	59.78	0.504	149
115	Mississippi St	7-5	78	59.77	0.589	56
116	Dayton	9-4	224	59.72	0.558	78
117	Miami OH	13-0	365	59.62	0.402	328
118	Abilene Chr	8-5	87	59.20	0.485	177
119	Geo Wash	9-4	237	59.17	0.522	120
120	Texas	9-4	301	59.06	0.506	145
121	Tulane	9-4	246	58.55	0.517	127
122	Rhode Island	9-4	247	58.49	0.550	89
123	Pacific	9-4	248	58.46	0.481	187
124	Bradley	9-4	251	58.26	0.515	132
125	South Carolina	8-4	273	58.21	0.543	97
126	St Thomas	10-4	294	58.16	0.477	194
127	Northwestern	7-5	124	58.07	0.574	66
128	Santa Barbara	9-4	257	58.06	0.479	191
129	Quinnipiac	9-4	266	57.63	0.509	140
130	Lipscomb	7-5	61	57.54	0.516	130
131	High Point	11-3	357	57.40	0.453	244
132	Elon	8-5	139	57.34	0.503	152
133	South Florida	7-5	68	57.28	0.588	58
134	UT Martin	9-4	279	57.19	0.438	275
135	Robert Morris	10-4	321	57.05	0.468	208
136	Pittsburgh	7-6	55	56.82	0.587	59
137	Georgia Tech	8-4	310	56.64	0.532	108
138	Providence	7-6	60	56.55	0.584	61
139	North Texas	9-4	292	56.45	0.466	212
140	UMASS	9-4	296	56.30	0.500	157
141	Oregon	6-6	16	56.30	0.606	34
142	Marshall	8-5	164	56.29	0.529	112
143	LMU	9-4	300	56.22	0.499	159
144	North Dakota St	10-5	261	56.15	0.451	245
145	Mississippi	7-5	189	55.43	0.552	85
146	Wichita St	8-5	187	55.39	0.521	121
147	TN St	7-5	128	54.89	0.456	236
148	Marist	8-3	347	54.74	0.474	197
149	UAB	9-4	334	54.53	0.486	176
150	Cincinnati	7-5	216	54.27	0.543	98
151	Mercer	7-5	153	54.03	0.485	179
152	Iona	9-4	336	54.01	0.516	129
153	San Francisco	8-5	220	53.99	0.509	141
154	Howard	9-5	275	53.73	0.435	283
155	Lindenwood	8-5	225	53.71	0.439	271
156	Portland St	6-5	81	53.42	0.453	243
157	Depaul	8-5	295	53.41	0.523	118
158	Fort Wayne	8-6	149	53.23	0.461	222
159	E Tenn St	8-5	239	53.15	0.468	210
160	Idaho	8-5	243	52.93	0.433	287
161	Missouri St	6-5	95	52.89	0.448	254
162	Vermont	8-6	166	52.76	0.489	172
163	Northridge	8-5	249	52.59	0.463	215
164	West Virginia	9-4	360	52.39	0.492	167
165	UC Davis	6-5	107	52.34	0.522	119
166	Drake	7-6	102	52.06	0.495	166
167	Youngstown St	8-5	262	52.05	0.459	229
168	N Kentucky	9-5	319	51.90	0.420	303
169	Stony Brook	8-5	268	51.84	0.458	232
170	Incarnate Word	6-6	37	51.68	0.473	201
171	Florida St	7-6	194	51.60	0.540	100
172	Corpus Christi	5-6	4	51.58	0.454	242
173	West Georgia	6-6	45	51.25	0.505	147
174	Fordham	9-4	356	51.17	0.393	339
175	Toledo	6-6	49	51.11	0.504	151
176	Portland	7-6	136	51.06	0.486	175
177	Oakland	6-7	9	51.04	0.570	68
178	Fairfield	8-5	290	50.87	0.483	183
179	Ga Southern	10-5	349	50.77	0.439	274
180	Temple	8-5	299	50.64	0.482	186
181	Maryland	6-6	133	50.46	0.551	88
182	Minnesota	7-5	304	50.45	0.510	138
183	South Alabama	9-4	358	50.44	0.456	238
184	Kennesaw St	8-4	351	50.31	0.386	340
185	Colgate	6-6	63	50.30	0.495	165
186	Winthrop	8-6	230	50.26	0.435	282
187	Idaho St	7-6	157	50.22	0.445	259
188	SC Upstate	8-7	150	50.09	0.459	228
189	Omaha	7-7	71	50.02	0.441	268
190	Navy	8-5	323	49.65	0.440	269
191	Siena	9-4	361	49.47	0.482	185
192	LA Tech	7-4	338	49.43	0.379	350
193	Duquesne	7-5	265	49.41	0.481	188
194	Rutgers	6-6	168	49.27	0.539	101
195	East Texas	6-6	93	49.15	0.484	181
196	Oregon St	7-6	196	48.93	0.533	105
197	Ohio	6-7	31	48.80	0.512	137
198	Alabama A&M	6-6	103	48.77	0.479	190
199	C Connecticut	6-5	214	48.64	0.447	255
200	American	7-6	201	48.57	0.463	217
201	Charleston	7-6	207	48.44	0.496	164
202	Texas St	8-6	274	48.38	0.449	251
203	Southern Miss	7-6	215	48.16	0.458	234
204	Cornell	6-5	242	47.51	0.478	192
205	Coastal	8-6	297	47.49	0.473	199
206	Denver	7-8	59	47.41	0.474	198
207	Indiana St	7-6	241	47.23	0.449	248
208	Wofford	7-5	324	47.21	0.462	220
209	Utah Tech	7-7	160	47.06	0.442	265
210	Boston College	6-6	233	46.95	0.518	125
211	Wright St	6-7	65	46.94	0.492	168
212	App St	8-6	316	46.85	0.436	278
213	Milwaukee	6-6	170	46.73	0.496	162
214	Penn	6-5	263	46.69	0.469	204
215	Chrls So	8-6	322	46.56	0.402	327
216	Austin Peay	5-5	180	46.52	0.487	174
217	SEMO	6-7	89	46.03	0.448	252
218	Charlotte	6-7	96	45.80	0.514	134
219	Rio Grande	5-6	83	45.73	0.471	203
220	St Josephs	7-5	342	45.51	0.447	256
221	Campbell	6-7	105	45.45	0.475	196
222	James Madison	7-6	285	45.44	0.468	209
223	TN Tech	6-7	106	45.42	0.442	266
224	Fresno St	6-6	209	45.36	0.483	184
225	Green Bay	6-8	36	45.33	0.504	150
226	Montana St	6-7	127	44.88	0.437	276
227	South Dakota St	7-7	223	44.84	0.420	307
228	Prairie View	5-7	34	44.63	0.420	306
229	S Illinois	6-7	140	44.58	0.500	156
230	Montana	6-7	142	44.54	0.399	333
231	Samford	7-6	314	44.45	0.423	299
232	NC A&T	7-4	364	44.42	0.380	349
233	SIUE	8-5	362	44.20	0.359	362
234	Memphis	5-7	39	44.15	0.560	75
235	Rice	6-7	158	43.93	0.460	227
236	Wagner	5-6	145	43.78	0.409	320
237	Grambling	5-7	50	43.73	0.519	124
238	Balt County	6-6	258	43.54	0.428	294
239	W Michigan	6-7	176	43.48	0.454	241
240	UNLV	5-6	161	43.34	0.524	117
241	Asheville	6-8	84	43.33	0.449	250
242	Fla Gulf Coast	5-7	64	43.11	0.513	135
243	South Dakota	7-7	276	42.96	0.432	289
244	San Jose St	5-7	69	42.94	0.510	139
245	Long Island	6-6	286	42.59	0.491	171
246	Bellarmine	5-7	80	42.58	0.469	207
247	North Alabama	5-6	191	42.47	0.434	284
248	East Carolina	5-8	20	42.32	0.534	104
249	New Haven	5-7	88	42.27	0.429	293
250	Fullerton	5-8	26	42.17	0.498	161
251	UTEP	4-7	10	42.05	0.461	224
252	Weber St	6-7	221	41.95	0.439	272
253	UC Riverside	6-8	141	41.76	0.463	216
254	Army	6-7	229	41.71	0.436	277
255	Jax St	5-6	227	41.29	0.382	346
256	Washington St	5-8	41	41.09	0.518	126
257	St Peters	5-5	331	41.00	0.430	290
258	E Michigan	6-7	255	40.67	0.458	233
259	W Carolina	4-7	27	40.51	0.480	189
260	San Diego	5-7	172	39.99	0.475	195
261	Harvard	6-7	281	39.89	0.449	249
262	Valparaiso	6-6	341	39.88	0.427	297
263	C Arkansas	5-8	82	39.63	0.466	214
264	Marquette	5-8	159	39.63	0.512	136
265	Chattanooga	6-7	291	39.54	0.379	351
266	Bakersfield	6-8	218	39.41	0.435	281
267	Monmouth	6-7	302	39.26	0.442	264
268	UTSA	4-8	8	39.21	0.501	155
269	N Arizona	5-7	202	39.00	0.427	295
270	Queens	5-7	213	38.74	0.461	223
271	Sacramento St	4-8	11	38.71	0.458	230
272	Manhattan	5-8	122	38.70	0.488	173
273	Radford	6-8	245	38.56	0.427	296
274	Dartmouth	5-6	313	38.56	0.433	288
275	Norfolk St	6-9	173	38.38	0.420	305
276	Jacksonville	5-8	135	38.31	0.448	253
277	Morehead St	5-7	228	38.31	0.419	309
278	N Illinois	5-7	232	38.24	0.419	310
279	VMI	5-8	138	38.24	0.415	317
280	Presbyterian	6-8	254	38.16	0.421	302
281	Longwood	7-7	359	37.67	0.380	347
282	Le Moyne	5-7	260	37.22	0.443	262
283	Lamar	5-6	339	37.07	0.376	354
284	Oral Roberts	5-10	30	36.99	0.462	219
285	Holy Cross	5-8	193	36.77	0.429	292
286	Cal Poly	5-9	100	36.62	0.457	235
287	Detroit	5-7	287	36.48	0.398	334
288	Hampton	6-7	352	36.25	0.377	353
289	Merrimack	6-7	353	36.18	0.443	261
290	Lowell	5-9	143	35.66	0.413	318
291	Canisius	5-8	234	35.60	0.450	247
292	E Kentucky	4-9	18	35.43	0.484	180
293	Pepperdine	5-8	244	35.28	0.412	319
294	E Illinois	4-8	86	35.24	0.446	258
295	Houston Chr	5-7	328	35.23	0.383	344
296	Florida A&M	3-7	25	35.17	0.458	231
297	Southern	4-8	94	35.09	0.407	322
298	Old Dominion	4-9	33	34.71	0.507	144
299	Mercyhurst	5-8	271	34.45	0.401	330
300	Sacred Heart	5-8	277	34.35	0.434	285
301	Delaware St	5-9	197	34.30	0.363	357
302	Evansville	4-9	42	34.23	0.466	213
303	Drexel	6-7	363	33.70	0.383	343
304	New Hampshire	4-8	162	33.52	0.422	301
305	North Dakota	5-10	146	33.47	0.442	267
306	Brown	5-7	354	33.20	0.396	335
307	NC Central	4-10	23	33.02	0.417	313
308	Northeastern	4-7	278	33.00	0.462	221
309	IL Chicago	4-8	204	32.47	0.444	260
310	La Salle	4-9	113	32.35	0.472	202
311	Stetson	4-9	120	32.26	0.436	280
312	Albany	4-10	52	31.82	0.430	291
313	Delaware	4-7	326	31.75	0.405	323
314	Boston Univ	5-8	346	31.68	0.400	332
315	Greensboro	4-9	154	31.42	0.423	300
316	New Orleans	3-8	53	31.33	0.520	122
317	SELA	4-8	256	31.12	0.425	298
318	S Utah	4-9	177	31.05	0.384	342
319	Lehigh	4-9	179	31.03	0.418	312
320	Nwestern St	3-8	67	30.88	0.433	286
321	Nicholls	3-8	77	30.66	0.469	206
322	W Illinois	4-9	199	30.41	0.375	355
323	Ark Pine Bluff	3-10	2	30.33	0.503	153
324	C Michigan	4-9	206	30.28	0.407	321
325	Bethune	3-9	19	30.26	0.499	158
326	NJ Tech	4-9	208	30.25	0.473	200
327	Cleveland St	4-10	126	30.13	0.403	326
328	Little Rock	4-9	305	27.95	0.371	356
329	Mt St Marys	4-9	311	27.87	0.403	325
330	Alabama St	3-9	110	27.74	0.454	240
331	Air Force	3-9	118	27.68	0.491	170
332	Loyola MD	4-9	332	27.30	0.362	358
333	IU Indy	4-10	270	26.93	0.382	345
334	Bryant	3-10	72	26.66	0.467	211
335	MD Eastern	4-13	57	26.54	0.455	239
336	Loyola Chicago	4-9	343	26.54	0.418	311
337	Fair Dickins	3-9	192	26.27	0.355	363
338	Long Beach	3-10	92	26.23	0.460	226
339	Georgia St	3-10	167	24.97	0.436	279
340	Citadel	3-10	188	24.62	0.362	359
341	Niagara	3-9	288	24.25	0.394	337
342	Bucknell	3-10	219	24.00	0.451	246
343	Stonehill	3-10	235	23.68	0.378	352
344	S Indiana	3-9	333	23.38	0.342	364
345	ULM	3-10	284	22.73	0.360	361
346	North Florida	2-10	29	22.53	0.439	273
347	Princeton	3-11	222	22.45	0.415	316
348	Ball St	3-9	350	22.39	0.361	360
349	Lafayette	3-10	308	22.33	0.386	341
350	Chicago St	2-11	22	21.13	0.477	193
351	E Washington	2-11	46	20.49	0.461	225
352	St Francis	2-11	70	20.02	0.416	314
353	Binghamton	3-11	344	19.85	0.331	365
354	Kansas City	2-11	108	19.43	0.401	329
355	TX Southern	1-9	5	18.60	0.485	178
356	Morgan St	2-11	203	18.19	0.404	324
357	Gardner Webb	2-13	51	17.99	0.400	331
358	Louisiana	2-11	250	17.48	0.420	304
359	Alcorn St	1-10	3	17.35	0.532	107
360	Coppin St	2-14	269	14.38	0.380	348
361	Rider	1-10	178	14.33	0.394	336
362	Jackson St	1-11	152	13.51	0.439	270
363	MS Valley	1-12	99	13.02	0.419	308
364	SC St	1-13	186	11.55	0.394	338
365	Maine	1-13	212	11.30	0.415	315